Anne Helmreich

Anne Helmreich, director of the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, leads the world’s preeminent and most widely used research center dedicated to collecting, preserving and making accessible primary sources documenting the history of the visual arts in America. The Archives’ holdings, dating from the 18th century to the present day, encompass more than 30 million items from artists, collectors, art historians, art dealers and critics, as well as other voices from across the art world. The Archives stewards more than 6,400 collections and 2,500 oral-history interviews.

Helmreich, art historian, administrator and educator, brings to the Archives of American Art experiences drawn from higher education and non-profit arts administration. Before joining the Archives Feb. 27, 2023, Helmreich was associate director of grants programming at the Getty Foundation, supporting individuals and institutions committed to advancing the greater understanding and preservation of the visual arts in Los Angeles and throughout the world. She also represented the Getty Foundation in the LA Arts Recovery Fund, which supports small to mid-sized arts organizations in Los Angeles.

While at the Getty, Helmreich also served as the inaugural co-chair of the Getty DEAI Council and the associate director of digital initiatives at the Getty Research Institute. Her work in higher education has included appointments as dean of the College of Fine Arts and professor of art history at Texas Christian University and director of the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities and associate professor of art history at Case Western Reserve University.

As a widely published scholar, Helmreich has been recognized for her innovative digital scholarship and her study of the art market as well as the intersections of art and science. Helmreich holds a Bachelor of Arts from Dickinson College, a master’s in art history from the University of Pittsburgh and a doctorate in art history from Northwestern University.

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